The present invention relates generally to treatment of the spinal column, and more particularly relates to a vertebral interbody spacer for placement between adjacent vertebral bodies of a spine to create and maintain a desired orientation and spacing between the adjacent vertebral bodies.
It is known that if an intervertebral disc is damaged, it can be removed and the resulting space between the two adjacent vertebrae may be filled with a bone growth inducing substance to promote a boney fusion across the disc space. Fixation devices external to the disc space have been utilized to maintain the position of the adjacent vertebrae while the intervening material fuses with adjacent bone to form a boney bridge. As an alternative or in conjunction with fixation devices, load bearing spacers, such as artificial devices or bone grafts, may be placed in the empty disc space. These spacers transmit the loading from one adjacent vertebra to the other adjacent vertebra during the healing process. Further, when an intervertebral disc is damaged there is often a loss of height of the disc and a loss of the normal angle (lordosis) between the vertebra on each side of the disc. Spacers may also be used to restore the height and angle (lordosis) of a damaged intervertebral disc. Such spacers may be provided in a variety of forms.
A need exists for improvements to interbody spacers and the present invention is directed to such need.